Steelers Blog

As Ramon Foster stood in front of the cameras in the Steelers media room on Monday, Maurkice Pouncey and Marcus Gilbert stood outside tapping on the closed door, smiling, taking Foster’s picture, and just having a little fun. It didn’t come as a surprise, as the offensive line is one of the tightest knit units on the Steelers’ team, a group that truly considers each other brothers.

That is one of the reasons Foster, a soon-to-be unrestricted free agent, is hoping that he is back in black and gold next year.

“The friendship part, it would be tough if I wasn’t here,” said Foster. “That’s just a part of the business. I hope I am here.”

Foster also knows the potential that exists on the offensive line with young players like Pouncey, David DeCastro and Mike Adams in the mix with a solid group of veterans, and would love the opportunity to be a part of the bright future the line has.

“We can be really good,” said Foster. “We have a lot of top-quality picks and young guys. I think the average age in our room now is 25 years old. Those guys are really good. I think everyone in our room now has played. We have depth. We just have to get everybody healthy this offseason and see how everything transpires.

“We have a lot of talented and special players on the line. You have all dynamics, smart guys and tough guys, every type of dynamic in the room. The talent is bottomless right now. I want to be a part of a line like that. Barring injuries, it could be a really special line.”

At this point, though, Foster doesn’t know what his future will hold. He will meet with Coach Mike Tomlin on Tuesday, which possibly could give some clarity to his future. But until free agency begins in March he will take Tomlin’s advice and reflect back on this season, one that finished with a disappointing 8-8 record.

“He said just remember what we had this past season,” said Foster of the message Tomlin delivered in a team meeting on Monday. “We were 8-8. That’s something you have to sit on for a little bit and remember it going into the next season. It’s something you can’t dwell on, but you have to reflect back on it before you move forward next year.”

Foster said that missing the playoffs will definitely serve as motivation going into the offseason, giving everyone that extra drive to not have this same feeling again.

“No doubt,” said Foster. “We split 3-3 in division play. We have a higher standard than that here. To come up short, it’s definitely not something that we were looking forward to.”